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The moment it happens

Answer texted questions from your Airtable info

People text a question to your number and get a short answer drawn from the details you keep in Airtable.

Runs
The moment it happens
Apps
Airtable, Twilio
AI
Yes, uses the built-in AI allowance
Access
Airtable read; Twilio number config

Send this to your assistant

Create a ClickRuntime automation: when someone texts my Twilio number, look up the answer in my Airtable 'Courses' table with AI and text it back.

Paste it into your assistant. It tells you what it will send or change before it runs live.

First time? Adding ClickRuntime to your assistant takes about two minutes.

Why use it

Why teams use this automation

A local training centre runs evening courses and gets the same questions by text every week: when does the next first-aid course start, how much is it, is there parking. Staff answer from the course list in Airtable, often hours later, and some people book elsewhere in the meantime.

Letting AI read the course table and reply within seconds answers the routine questions straight away. Staff keep the table up to date, and the answers follow.

What you get out of it

  • Answers in seconds, day or night

    People get a reply while they are still deciding, not the next morning.

  • Always from your own data

    AI answers only from the records in your Courses table, so dates and prices match what you publish.

  • Update the table, update the answers

    Change a start date in Airtable and the next reply uses it.

  • Hard questions go to a person

    If the answer is not in the table, the reply says so and gives your phone number.

How it works

What happens, step by step

  1. Someone texts your Twilio number, and Twilio passes the text to ClickRuntime.

  2. It reads the current list of courses from your Airtable table.

  3. AI writes a short answer using only those course details.

  4. The answer is texted back to the person from your number.

Before it runs live

  • Connect Airtable
  • Connect Twilio
  • Paste your automation's link into the other app's webhook settings

What you get

RunsThe moment it happens
Answer texted questions from your Airtable infojust nowSucceeded
SMS · Help lineThe next First Aid at Work course starts Mon 3 Nov, 6-9pm, for 3 evenings. It costs 180. Free parking behind the building.

Build your own

Need it to work differently?

This template is a starting point. Copy the prompt and change it, or describe a different automation from scratch, with your own conditions, more apps or an AI step. Your assistant writes it, tests it and runs it on ClickRuntime.
  • Your own rules

    Conditions, thresholds, filters and exceptions, written the way you'd explain them to a colleague.

  • Any number of apps

    One automation can read from one app and update several others. Over 248 apps are ready, and anything with an API works too.

  • AI where it helps

    Summaries, classification, extraction and drafts use ClickRuntime's built-in AI, with no extra key.

  • On a schedule or on each event

    Runs as often as every 5 minutes, or the moment an app sends an event, and keeps track of what it already handled.

Changes you can ask for

  • Act only on the items that match your own rules, and skip the rest
  • Change what the AI looks for, or how it writes the result
  • Add another app, for example also send it to Slack
  • Combine it with other Airtable and Twilio steps into one automation

Under the hood

The code that runs this automation

This is the Python script that runs each time the automation starts. Your AI assistant writes it for you when you send the prompt, and you allow each step in your assistant. To change how the automation works, describe the change to your assistant and it updates the script for you. For every function it can use, see the script reference.
sms_help_line_answered_from_airtable.pyexample
from clickruntime import on_event, credentials, http, ai

BASE_ID, FROM, PHONE = "appXXXXXXXXXXXXXX", "+447700900000", "01632 960 123"

def sms(to, body):
    sid = credentials.secret("TWILIO_ACCOUNT_SID")
    return http.post(f"https://api.twilio.com/2010-04-01/Accounts/{sid}/Messages.json",
                     auth=(sid, credentials.secret("TWILIO_AUTH_TOKEN")), data={"From": FROM, "To": to, "Body": body})

@on_event
def handle(event):
    msg = event.json or {}
    sender, question = msg.get("From"), (msg.get("Body") or "").strip()
    if not sender or not question:
        return {"ignored": True}
    courses = http.get(f"https://api.airtable.com/v0/{BASE_ID}/Courses",
                       headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {credentials.connection('airtable', 'work')}"},
                       params={"pageSize": 100}).json()["records"]
    info = "\n".join("; ".join(f"{k}: {v}" for k, v in r["fields"].items()) for r in courses)[:20000]
    answer = ai.generate(f"Courses:\n{info}\n\nQuestion: {question[:500]}", max_output_tokens=150,
                         system=f"Answer in under 300 characters using only the course data. If unsure, say so and give {PHONE}.").text
    sms(sender, answer[:320]).raise_for_status()
    return {"answered": True}

FAQ

Common questions

Can AI make up an answer?
It is told to answer only from the course records sent with the question, and to say it does not know otherwise. Keep the table complete for the best answers.
How long are the replies?
Under 300 characters, which is about two SMS segments, so they are quick to read and cheap to send.
Does it remember earlier messages from the same person?
No. Each text is answered on its own. For a back-and-forth conversation, ask your AI assistant to keep the last few messages per number.
What permissions does it need?
Airtable read; Twilio number config. Nothing else in your accounts is used.
Does it need AI?
Yes. It uses ClickRuntime's built-in AI, so you don't need an OpenAI or Anthropic key. Every plan includes a monthly AI allowance.
How many runs does it use?
One run for each event the app sends.
Can I change how it works?
Yes. Describe the change to your AI assistant, for example a different schedule, channel or filter. It updates the automation, tests it and tells you what changed.

Set up “Answer texted questions from your Airtable info” from your assistant

Copy the prompt above, or connect your assistant first. Free plan, no credit card.